Brought to you by WBIW News and Network Indiana
Last updated on Sunday, July 29, 2012
(ELKHART) - Imagine taking your daughter to the county fair only to find out a man you don’t know may have taken pictures of her, and police may have found child porn in that man’s car.
WSBT , reports that's what police said happened at the Elkhart County 4-H Fair Wednesday.
"It wasn't just a passerby. He was looking like he was on a mission," recalled Gabby Moreno of the man she said she saw at the Saddle Club on the fairgrounds this week. "I noticed him over there, up against the fence and he was up against the railing, putting his hands like this and kind of looking, following."
Showing horses at the fair is something Gabby and her friend Cassie, also 18, work all year to do.
"This is my whole summer. I train every day," Cassie said.
But this year, the vibe at the Saddle Club was a little different for both young women.
"He was zoning in on more of the females. We do have a lot more girls than guys in Saddle Club, but he was taking a lot more pictures of girls than boys so that just kind of gave me a little bit of a chill," Cassie added. "It just kind of makes me a little bit sick to my stomach knowing he was here trying to take pictures of all of us, knowing he might have had a picture of me on his camera."
Adult members of the club's board of directors say they noticed something wasn't quite right, so they went to police who were already stationed on the fairgrounds. Elkhart County police then took the man in for questioning, and according to a report filed by police, further investigation found pornography of young females in the suspect's vehicle.
Officers did not arrest the 54-year-old man but said they issued what's called a "No Trespass Warning" - making it illegal for him to be anywhere on the fairgrounds.
"It concerns me a little bit, but I'm not really going to focus on that because I have two more classes I need to [compete in] today and I need to try to keep that out of my mind," Cassie said.
But Cassie, Gabby, their parents and others in the Saddle Club still have questions about what really happened.
"Hopefully, he's not really as bad as people think, but still, it is creepy to have a guy staring at girls riding their horses when we're mostly 18 and under," Gabby added.
By late Friday afternoon, the man still had not been arrested for the incident police said occurred just before 10 p.m. Wednesday. Elkhart County Sheriff's Department spokesman Capt. Jim Bradberry said the case is under investigation while officers try to determine whether the man broke any laws.
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